William DuVall

William Bradley DuVall (born September 6, 1967) is an American musician best known as the current co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Alice in Chains.

William Bradley DuVall was born in Washington, D.C., on September 6, 1967.

His maternal grandmother was of Dutch and North African descent.

When DuVall was fourteen years old, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia with his mother and stepfather, who had taken a job in the city.

DuVall has cited Jimi Hendrix as an early influence after listening to his cousin's copy of Band of Gypsys when he was eight years old and becoming impressed by Hendrix's guitar.

DuVall's music career started in the early 1980s Atlanta hardcore punk scene.

His first band was Awareness Void of Chaos.

DuVall spent the late 1980s with a Hendrix-inspired band, No Walls.

Other members of this band were jazz bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Matthew Cowley.

In the late 1980s, DuVall earned a degree in philosophy with an emphasis on religion from Georgia State University.

In 1983, DuVall helped found the controversial Atlanta-based hardcore punk band Neon Christ, contributing guitars and lyrics to the band's albums.

Other members of this band were vocalist Randy DuTeau, bassist Danny Lankford, and drummer Jimmy Demer.

With a couple of short East Coast tours and two albums, the politically pointed band started gaining popularity.

The band used its popularity to support many charitable causes, including working to free Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

In 1987, DuVall formed the Final Offering with vocalist Randy Gue (a former Neon Christ roadie), Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean, and drummer Greg Psomas.

However, Psomas's heroin habit hindered them from working consistently.

DuVall gave a demo tape to Living Colour lead guitarist Vernon Reid backstage at a show on their tour with the Rolling Stones in 1989.

Subsequently, Reid brought No Walls into the Black Rock Coalition fold and helped arrange some shows for them in New York.

They also recorded a demo at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in New York under Reid's mentorship.

In the late 1990s, DuVall founded the band Madfly with Nico Constantine, Bevan Davies, and Jeffery Blount.

He served as guitarist, singer, and songwriter.

Their efforts included two albums: Get the Silver and White Hot in the Black.

The former was released on Killing Floor Recordings and the latter through Blackheart Records.

No Walls released one self-titled album in 1992 and disbanded the same year.

Dean would go back to work with Corrosion of Conformity; Psomas died of an overdose in 1994.

In 1994, DuVall, along with Milton Davis, co-wrote the song "I Know" for fellow Atlanta musician Dionne Farris.

The track stayed on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for 38 weeks, peaking at No. 4 and earning Farris a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

DuVall won an ASCAP Pop Music Award for co-writing the song "I Know" for Dionne Farris in 1996 and has earned three Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.

DuVall is also co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist for Comes with the Fall.

DuVall won an ASCAP Pop Music Award for it in 1996.

In 1999, DuVall, Bevan, and Nico moved on to form Comes with the Fall, adding Adam Stanger as their bassist.

Neon Christ disbanded in 1986, reuniting for a one-time show featuring the original members on December 24, 2004.

He joined Alice in Chains in 2006, replacing the band's original lead singer, Layne Staley, who died in 2002, and shares vocal duties with guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell.

The members were later said to be filming a documentary, which concludes with a February 2, 2008, show at Lawrenceville, Georgia's punk haunt The Treehouse.

After Neon Christ originally broke up, DuVall was briefly the second guitarist in the northern California hardcore punk band Bl'ast, contributing a small bit of writing to their second album, It's in My Blood, released on the hardcore punk–alternative label SST Records, founded by Greg Ginn of hardcore punk band Black Flag.

DuVall did not, however, stay with the band long enough to record on the album.

DuVall has recorded three albums with the band: 2009's Black Gives Way to Blue, 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, and 2018's Rainier Fog.

Since 2016, he has been the lead vocalist for the supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra.

In his long musical career, he has played a role in many bands, playing in a variety of genres, an example being the punk rock group Neon Christ.

DuVall's first solo album, One Alone, was released in 2019.